10 Commandments Of Using Coupons

The world of shoppers is divided into two, sometimes rival, camps: those who coupon and those who don’t. If you are going to coupon, you have to make sure that you do it right and respect your fellow shoppers, otherwise they will hoist you (in their minds) from the nearest shopping cart return sign. So then, NJ.com proposes 10 commandments for couponers to follow so that we can all live together in harmony, couponer and non alike.

1. Don’t take peelies off a product on the shelf you’re not buying
2. Don’t raid multiple coupons from the coupon dispenser
3. Don’t steal your neighbor’s newspaper for coupons
4. Don’t knowingly use an expired coupon
5. Don’t knowingly use fake coupons
6. Obey the rules of the coupon. If you need to buy 3 to get the deal, don’t try hustle the checkout clerk into letting you get away with only buying 2.
7. Have your coupons ready
8. Don’t harangue the cashier
9. Point out the “free” coupons in advance to the cashier
10. Running 15 items through the 10 or less lane, AND using 15 tricky coupons shall be punishable by death.

Agreed! There is nothing I hate more than trying to quickly get in and out with just a few items only to have some jerk with a cart full of crap rush in front of me to get to the express lane first. Then halfway through the transaction they’re all, “Oh, was this 20 items or less? Hehehe” And these always seem to be the people that think something was rung incorrectly or need to hold the line until their kid comes back with another box of Easy Mac. Makes me stabby.

When people do that in front of me in the limited item express lane, I count out loud each item as it’s scanned. 13! 14! 15! 16! 17!. They tend to give dirty looks or look embarrassed but it’s worth it. At a local Meijer here, one of the self-scan lane clerks actually turned a customer away from the 12 or less lanes and directed them to the unlimited self-scan lanes. I actually went and gave them a compliment and to their manager as well.

While that’s true, I was talking about when people mix and match items. At Safeway, for example, they may offer a “12 for $4″ sale on yogurt, mix and match. So a person grabs 2 strawberry, 2 orange, 4 raspberry, etc. until they have 12. Same goes with catfood, rice-a-roni, etc.

I’m pretty sure that the flavor or variety has no bearing on using a quantity key, unless it’s a store that uses it for tracking/inventory. I’ve seen the variety of canned cat food scenario play out with a quantity key in different stores.

Most stores do use it for inventory anymore since they all have different bar codes, different SKUs. They are different items. (Spoken as a former cashier who would tell people with too many items they couldn’t be in the 10 or fewer lanes.)

Come to think of it they used to put a quantity in and then scan one of the items and the reciept would say 24 @ $.49 on one line, then the next line would have the UPC and price for the total. Now they scan one in and hit the button 24 times and I get receipts longer than I am tall. Maybe that’s why they quit asking to check my receipts.

I don’t mind it if there is over 10 of that item, if that is the only item. A lot of clerks here will simply just run the quantity of the first yogurt if all the remainder are the same. It ends up being faster than 10 items, but slower than 1. Probably about the time it would take to ring up three items.

While I do understand the annoyance with that, some people take it way too far. One time I had 11 items instead of 10. The guy behind me was huffing and sighing over one item. So I took that one item and gave it to my husband. So now instead of one short transaction he had to deal with 2. Passive-aggressive I know, but the guy needed to chill out over one item!

Why did he need to chill out? 11 is not 10. “Oh, just a couple more over, what’s the big deal” is exactly why people bring through 15 items instead of 10 because, hey, it only takes a few more seconds, right?

Well what will take longer than one item over the limit? A second transaction. From now on I should bring 15 items and make 15 different transactions. Then let me hear you complain about your precious seconds of wasted time.

Yes…and as I’ve already said twice in the thread, I didn’t necessarily mean 12 of the same item…I mean 12 similar items with different SKUs that all need to be scanned differently…like someone buying 8 types of Gerber’s baby food.

But they usually don’t because they generally cashiers get reviewed based on how many items they scan per minute/hour. Scanning an item 12 times pads their number and makes it look better if then scan it once with a quantity of 12.

Don’t assume this. At Safeway, we lost the ability to use the quantity button years ago. They want use to scan everything. Got a dozen Yoplait yogurts or varying flavors? Price is a moot point. We are required to scan them individually in order to ensure accuracy. We may only use the quantity button in the case of things like produce items sold by the piece or cases of water.

Also have your coupons clipped before hand. I know this may be covered in have them ready, but there is a big difference between digging around in your purse looking for something and ripping them out of the circular on the spot.

I would also add, if you are ripping from a circular at the front of the store, recycle the circular, don’t just throw is back on the pile where someone else will pick up and then not have the coupon. That really grinds my gears.

I had a lady in front of me in the express line going through the coupons in the sunday paper after all her items were rung up looking for coupons for the items she bought! As she was doing this I watched as other people who got into other lines long after me pay for their purchases and walk out the door. At what point are you allowed to go postal on someone like that?

I used to have a store paper route. Sometimes I’d catch old ladies rifling through the paper they weren’t buying to grab all the coupons they wanted, and then leaving the paper on the rack. Considering the honest old ladies bought the paper just for the coupons, those stores tended to sell badly.

The free ones require them to enter the amount of the item in, so if they don’t know to look for it, you get to wait while they look through the receipt for the price. I don’t point them out first, rather I stick them on the end of the belt so they’re right at the end of the list and right in front of them.

Because the cashier has to plug in the amount of the item you’re getting for free and write it on the coupon. If you wait until the end to hand over the “free item” coupons, the cashier has to go back through the whole transaction looking for the price of that item.

I don’t get these. Theft and fraud (#1, #3, #4, #5, and #6) are obviously wrong, who needs to be told this? What’s the harm in #2? Who does #8? What’s the point of #9? And #10 should go without saying. So we’re left with #7, have your coupons ready. I think that’s about all you really need to know, which should have already been obvious anyway.

I generally put my coupon items last on the belt (because sometimes they need to check the items) with the coupons stacked up on the first coupon item. Never had a problem or delay with this method.

And that is the difficulty. there have been more than a few times where I’ve seen the dispenser and noticed that the coupons were good for 6 months. The problem? I don’t need the item this time, but I will be buying it 10-12 times in those 6 months. I go back a few days later, and there is nothing left. If I had picked up the coupons up front, I could have been savings set.

#2 is a tragedy of the commons situation. Take only what you need, and leave what you don’t. #9 is because the cashier has to write the item price on the coupon for reimbursement, so if you leave them till the end he/she will have to look over your receipt to find the price.

2. You’re taking away coupons from other people.
8. Lots of people.
9. Cashiers have to enter the price of the item you’re getting for free, or write that price on the coupon. If you’ve bought dozens of items, the cashier has to go through your whole order to find that one item to get the price.
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10. You know they should go without saying. A lot of people still do it.

Re #4 (expired coupons): overseas military commissaries usually accept mfr’s, “$X off” coupons up to 6 months after their expiration date, so don’t throw expired coupons out, either! A little Google-fu will reveal a convenient place to drop off/mail in your coupons to people who can still use them.

I’m the coupon collector in our office. The post office has a great Flat Rate box that’s just about the size of a coupon circular. I leave it in my office, everyone drops off their coupons in there, and when the box is filled, off it goes to a military base overseas.

Ten bucks for postage and our armed forces families get to save thousands!

I’m the same way. When the one at Albertson’s says, “Please wait for assistance,” there’s usually a person manning the station where he or she just presses a button and doesn’t even care what the thing wanted in the first place, even when I’m buying liquor. The times that it doesn’t pay off are when you have produce that has a precise weight, which seems to set off the thing that requires attention.

I work in a grocery store and don’t mind people leaving coupons around (I do it myself if I find something I’m not going to use), but people like to dump their expired coupons all over the shelves ugh.

With respect to #4 — Bed Bath & Beyond coupons never expire, even though they have clearly marked expiration dates. Any good coupon shopper knows this, therefore, this is an awful example to provide in the original post. Not only do they never expire, you can use multiple coupons during your purchase and get 20% off each item. Buying 7 items? Use 7 coupons. We just used a coupon from 2008 without a problem. We even joked about it to the cashier that we somehow still have one that old.

I agree that that is not a good example, but caveat couponer: Some BB&B managers (looking at you, HUNTSVILLE) act like they are doing you a big favor and waste everyone’s time scolding and speechifying about how they will accept the coupon “just this once”.

The new BB&B coupons do expire. They now say something like “20% until [DATE] or 10% until [LATER DATE}”, after that, they’re dead. It’s “our way of weaning people off everlasting coupons”, according to the cashier who told me.

One of the things we used to recommend to to customers was that they place each coupon on top of the corresponding item(s), so the coupon could be rung up immediately afterward and show up that way on their receipt. Also helped make sure people actually read the coupons.

When I use coupons, I plan on what I’m buying before I go and cut the coupons I may or may not use. I have them all together, separate them as I find the item I am going to use it on, and double check that it will work. Then I hand them to the cashier at the end, in one pile, and they always work just fine.

Usually I don’t piss of the customers behind me, or the cashiers. Usually both of them tell me how amazing I am for being so coupon-wise.
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I don’t consider that a violation. If they didn’t allocate the peelies right amongst all applicable products, that’s not your fault. Snatching for future use, however, demands you be followed by the tantrum throwing 4 year old.

It would be nice if they clarified what was coupon eligible, though. I once got accused of snatching a peelie, even though it came off of the box I was buying.

99. If you are a couponer, don’t get mad at me if I look at you strangely, with your massive binder of coupons, each in its own little plastic compartment, and you with lists in each fist, profusely attempting to match item on shelf with what’s in your tome of time-sensitive bargains… you and I, we just each have a different set of priorities.

I don’t buy newspapers. I don’t clip coupons. I don’t understand the time-value proposition. I really don’t understand you, or how you have the time to do all that. But you go ahead. It’s a free country. Double or triple away, clipper!

In return, don’t hog up the express self-checkout area with your huge cart of crap. You can whip out the checkbook and balance it over there. Thanks.

All you have to do is look online for what these people have “matched up” (sales to coupons). There are forums where people write every coupon that is available for an item in the store that is on sale that week. It’s an easy way to save money from coupons. You actually end up getting a lot of things free if you buy the smallest-sized item.

The only time spent is buying the newspaper and spending about 10 minutes looking at the forum really. Maybe another 5 for clipping. So, I would estimate that you could spend as little as 20 minutes – 30 minutes per week if you buy the newspaper when you’re already at the store for something else. Of course, you may not want to spend any time, which I understand.

Another thing that pisses me off about the binder coupon warriors is they usually travel in packs, moving about VERY slowly and blocking the entire aisle while trying to figure out if they have a coupon for something on the list. If you have the list….and the big huge binder of coupons, wouldn’t you do that shit at home beforehand? And if these women (YES, I am going to pull out the gender because what guy does this??) are so shopping savvy, why do they seem to show up when the supermarket is the busiest???

Im a man and i do most of the coupon clipping, although no i dont have a big binder. As for the post above yours I spend all of 5 maybe 10 minutes a week doing coupons and looking at the sale papers. Just went to the grocery store this week spent $25 and some change on $75 worth of items. My math tells me thats $10 per minute id say that makes it worth it.

Yeah we usually cut them out ahead of time and bring only what we are gonna use that trip. As I am shopping I take the coupon out of the envelope and hold it after taking the item off the shelf so this way I do not give coupons that I didn’t buy items for. This makes it easier to hand them over to the cashier quickly. Most cashier’s want the coupons all at the end here so you have to obey that as well.

Note that I do everything right, it is not my fault if the cashier does not know how to ring up coupons..

There was a new coupon display at our neighbourhood Harris Teeter in the frozen foods section that was almost completely stripped of the tear-off coupons, and it had obviously been done by someone taking off the whole chunk of coupons at once (no tear-off glue strips like you’d normally see). Even the guy stocking the shelves nearby was complaining about the person who’d taken nearly all the coupons when he’d put out the display. It sucks because no one else got a chance to use them and whatever company paid for the promotion wasn’t getting much in the way of advertising now.

A Sunday paper near me worth buying (that has more than 1 coupon insert) is $1.75. Add in a 1/2 hr to do what you say, find the deals. Plus the extra time in the store finding and buying the exact product for the deal (rather than the product I usually buy and know exactly where it is), and perhaps extra time during the checkout process to deal with this paper (at some point, there will be a problem)… my free time isn’t worth a lot, I’m no Bill Gates, but it seems to me to be a lucky proposition to break even on that whole fiasco.

Wouldn’t it be cheaper and less hassle to just consistently buy cheaper, quality store brands instead of juggling name brands, hoping to hit a coupon?

And this is totally anecdotal, but it always seems to me that items that have coupons, are mostly bad for you. Packaged, pre-cooked foods, high in fat/salt/sugar and uber-calorie-dense. It’s a rare sight to find a coupon for a bag of carrots. Hot pockets and Totino’s and some sort of sausage-pancake-syrup-frankenbreakfast-thingy? All the time.

Not that I don’t eat prepackaged stuff occasionally, but not often enough to buy 5 at a time or whatever the “deal”s usually require.

It’s really a matter of how you value your time and what the benefit to you is. Lots of people just clip coupons while watching TV. Others only spend a little bit of time on it, but rely on the coupon sites to do most of the matching (that’s a huge time savings — everyone pitches in to identify the deals). If you don’t enjoy doing it and the savings aren’t that high, just buy the generic.

The majority of coupons are going to be for prepackaged items because that’s what manufacturers make. Fruit and veggies (fresh anyway) don’t come from traditional mfg, so the marketing is minimal. There are coupons for these, but usually tied to another product (buy x, get $2 off fresh fruit) or they come from the wine manufacturers in certain states (called winetags). There are coupons for organic, natural and “healthier” brands — Mambo Sprouts puts out a monthly booklet full of coupons. Remember that there are tons of coupons for non-edible products like toothpaste, laundry soap and OTC drugs. Even if you just use these coupons, you’ll make a big dent in your out-of-pocket expense.

Don’t buy something you won’t eat/use just to get a savings (unless it makes the item free). The stupid shopper is the one buying a cart full of brand name items who won’t take a second to pull a coupon from the dispenser to save $1.

I’ll agree on the Mambo Sprouts thing. Also, if you want coupons for ingredients or organic products it pays to check the manufacturer’s website. Some places, like Earthbound Farms and Organic Valley, have printable coupons or you can sign up for a newsletter to be mailed to you and they send coupons. I get them and Earthbound Farms has ones like $1 off any of their produce.

I read lots of couponing blogs that talk about trying to get away with things like using expired coupons. Getting away with something doesn’t mean it is ethical. Knowingly using a coupon against its intended use is fraud, whether or not you get away with it. My integrity is worth more than that 25 cent coupon.

On the other hand, stores need to do a better job at explaining their coupon policy, especially as it deals with tricky scenarios like Buy One Get One Free (B1G1). For example:
Target’s policy is that you can combine target coupons and manufacturer coupons. So suppose you had both a Target B1G1 coupon and manufacturer B1G1 coupon for the same product. How many would you have to buy to get how many free?

As an avid couponer, I must say that – while I never want to be “that guy” – the cashier needs to be corrected when they are wrong and try to deny your coupon.

I think most people like me who use coupons a lot are used to the fact that there are always caveats and restrictions that are spelled out in the fine print. It could be size restrictions, specific flavors/packages, minimum number of items needed to buy, etc. While I have certainly made my fair share of mistakes when it comes to coupons, I find that more often I am having to correct a cashier who glossed over the fine print or simply says “it won’t scan” (hot tip: a LOT of perfectly valid coupons used in a perfectly appropriate manner will not scan at the register — that is the store’s fault, not yours or the manufacturer’s who issued the coupon).

The point is, I put in a lot of work to figuring out which coupons to use at which stores in the right combonations so that I can save my family some much-needed money. Sometimes the work finding the right coupon/sale combo, clipping from the newspaper and searching the internet, then driving to two or three different stores takes hours. That includes the time spent making sure the shopping list fits in with the restrictions on the coupons. It’s worth the effort when you find yourself spending close to half of what you used to for the same amount of food — sometimes more.

Needless to say, it can be quite irritating when someone wrongly refuses your coupon after having glanced at it for two seconds or because they are unwilling to consider the fact that the register’s bar code scanner does not dictate coupon validity. Of course it seems stupid to the person in line behind you that you are going to stand your ground over 50 cents or $1, but those dollars add up when you run into the same thing over and over.

In regards to the peelie coupons, I read that they are affixed to the packages by the stores(?) depending on which packages are expiring soon or have old branding or whatnot. The reason for the coupon is to discount packages that can’t be sold for much longer. So I guess technically you shouldn’t take off a peelie coupon and use it for another product (even if it is the same thing, only different flavor).

I mostly shop at the Big 3 (Vons, Ralphs, Albertsons) supermarkets and the cash registers are advanced enough to group items together – so even if the cashier doesn’t scan all 6 yogurts together, they will still appear as 1 line on the receipt. I like this a lot. And though I guess for inventory purposes, the cashier should scan similar items (but different flavors) separately – but a lot of the times, I see them just scan them as 1 item. I’ve also had cashiers not use the quantity button (I’m assuming this supermarket would have one) and scan each item individually.

Yes, I’ve seen the story on ABC news about the Coupon Queen who gets $200 worth of shit at Kroger for $1.29 using coupons the store doubles and triples. The sad fact is most of us lose (or at best break even) on this coupon gimmick.

If your 50-cent coupon for a $13 jumbo box of Tide is doubled, your net price is $12. If the store down the street sells it for $11 and the coupon is redeemed at face value, you pay $10.50 – $1.50 less than if the first store had doubled your coupon on an inflated retail price.